Oneida Ltd., one of the world's leading marketers of stainless steel flatware, will move its East Coast distribution center from upstate New York to Bryan County, the Morning News has learned.

The 500,000-square-foot facility already is under construction on 32-plus acres in the Interstate Centre Industrial/Business Park at the intersection of Interstate 16 and U.S. 280. It's expected to be completed by the end of the year, said Jeff Jepson, a principal with Savannah-based North Point Industrial, which brokered the deal.

"This is great news for Bryan County," Jepson said. "We're delighted that a major company like Oneida decided to open a major distribution center here."

Some key employees will be asked to transfer to the new center from New York, but the majority will be hired locally, Mahony said.

Oneida is the second major tenant to lease space in the 3-year-old Interstate Centre, a 270-acre industrial park near Pembroke. Last year, German company Orafol announced plans to open its U.S. headquarters and its first manufacturing facility outside Germany at the park.

"The Interstate Centre turned out to be a perfect fit for Oneida," said Jean Bacon, executive director of the Development Authority of Bryan County, in a written statement. "They were looking for a site that offered easy access to the Georgia Ports Authority, I-95 and I-16."

Mahony called the proximity of the new site to the ports "a huge factor" in the decision to move to Georgia.

"We used to have our manufacturing facilities next door to our distribution center in New York, but now we are sourcing from factories in Asia," he said. "By locating near a major port, we expect to significantly reduce our freight costs."

Georgia Ports Authority spokesman Robert Morris called Oneida's move another example of how the ports benefit other communities in the state.

"Like the Target distribution center in Liberty County, this is a ripple effect that starts at the ports and moves throughout the state," he said.

The new warehouse, which will be one of only two in the nation for Oneida, is part of the company's new global strategy as it moves out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy and restructures from manufacturing to sourcing through international markets, Mahony said.

About Oneida

For more than 125 years, Oneida Ltd. has been one of the world's largest and best-known marketers of stainless steel flatware and tabletop products, with operations in the United States, Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom and Australia.